Monday March 23rd 2026
The area on which Gigi's has permission to create a nine vehicle car park and wanted to make it twelve. Gigi's is the grey building across the road.
Written by Midlothian View Editor, Phil Bowen and Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
A Midlothian restaurant has lost its appeal for a bigger car park on public land across the street.
The owners of Gigi’s restaurant in Bonnyrigg had already won the right to create a nine vehicle car park on the land after appealing to the council’s Local Review Body after planners rejected it two years ago.
The restaurant then asked for three more spaces on the site, an application once again rejected by planners and taken to the Local Review Body (LRB) for appeal today.
Concerns were raised about the impact on locals who said the land provided a safe space to walk in the town centre.
The elected members of the LRB made a visit to the site ahead of the meeting. The site is owned by the Council but leased to Gigi’s.
In the meeting the councillors discussed the hoardings which went up in December around the site in preparation for the work commencing. The work has been paused whilst the new application was reviewed.
Councillor Colin Cassidy said he believed the original approval for nine spaces had been ‘generous’.
He said: “I am concerned that the applicant has put up boarding around the site which is unsightly and cutting the community off from the spaces. I have reservations about this appeal.”
He was supported by review body chairperson Councillor Russell Imrie who acknowledged the original decision to grant the nine space car park was ‘controversial’ at the time.
He said: “I think this (application) is a bit too much and I was concerned by the hoardings we saw at our site visit. They are unsightly and do not look like something that will come down easily or very temporary.”
Planners received 15 objections from local residents to the car park application.
The LRB did not actually discuss the merits or not of nine spaces versus twelve and instead concentrated on the temporary hoardings. Peter Ansdorf, Head of Placemaking at Midlothian Council, did explain that the applicants were able to construct hoardings around the site whilst the work took place in order to secure the site and that they could be in place for three years if they so wished.
Representatives of the restaurant, in their documents, urged councillors to overturn their planning officers’ refusal pointing to their previous approval and insisting the proposals are “policy compliant, proportionate, and responsive to both community needs and environmental considerations”.
However a report by planning officers at the time of refusing the plans, said there had been 15 objections to the land being used as a car park with one claiming “Bonnyrigg will survive if Gigis relocates” and another adding that “numerous successful restaurants operate without a car park.”
The Local Review Body unanimously refused the appeal over the larger car park advising the applicants to return to their original plans and urging the removal of the hoardings as soon as possible.
After the meeting Midlothian View contacted Gigi’s for comment. Luigi Pia told us:
“Having reviewed the outcome, we’re naturally disappointed with the decision. From our perspective, the discussion at committee level did not meaningfully address the planning merits of the application. Instead, it appears the refusal has centred largely around the presence of the hoarding currently in place.
“To clarify, the hoarding was installed purely as a temporary safety measure while initial groundworks were underway. Due to extended delays within the council process, it has remained in place far longer than originally intended. It was never a permanent feature of the site, and our consultants are unable to reconcile how a temporary safety installation has become a determining factor in the refusal.
“Despite this setback, we remain committed to improving the site. We will now proceed with delivering the original 9-space car park and hope that the remaining stages of the process can be progressed without further delay, allowing us to complete what we believe is a positive improvement for the area.”
You can watch the discussion at the LRB on the video below:
